The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 33

The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America 33

ALGONKIN, 2-FATHOM HUNTER'S CANOE, without headboards. Details of

building frame, stakes or posts, gauge, and stem.]

 

The gunwales of the Algonkin canoes were made up of three members--main

gunwales, outwales, and caps. The main gunwales, usually of cedar, were

rectangular in cross section and bent on the flat. The lower outboard

corner was bevelled off to take the rib ends, as in the Malecite

canoes. The gunwales were rather light ranging in the examples found

from about 1 inch square to 1 by 1⅝ inches, the ends being tapered

to a lesser size. The outwales were light battens, rectangular in

cross-section, about as deep as the main gunwales and about two-thirds

their thickness or less; they tapered in depth toward the ends to ⅜

or ½ inch in order to follow the sheer, while the thickness might be

constant or only slightly reduced. The caps, which were pegged to the

gunwales, were also light and were about equal to the combined width

of the main gunwales and outwales and had a depth of about ⅜ to ½ inch

amidships. At the ends they were tapered in both width and depth,

becoming ½ inch wide and ⅜ inch deep. The amount of taper in the ends

of the gunwale members depended upon the form of sheer; the Algonkin

practice in the old form of canoe was to sheer the outwales and caps to

the top of the stem, while the gunwales sheered less and met the sides

of the stem piece at a lower point, as in the drawing (p. 116). In the

_wabinaki chiman_, however, the gunwales and other members, as a rule,

all followed the sheer of the ends of the canoe.

 

[Illustration: Figure 111

 

ALGONKIN CANOE, OLD TYPE.]

 

The Algonkins used inside stem-pieces in both models, but the

stem-piece of the old high-ended canoe was quite different from that of

the _wabinaki chiman_, for it was built to give a profile in which the

top of the high stem ended in a line straight across to the sheer. The

piece consisted of a crooked stick, without lamination, worked out of

a thin board, ⅜ to ½ inch thick. It was shaped to the desired profile

inside and out, and was slightly sharpened, or sometimes rabbeted and

sharpened, toward the outboard face. The headboard was mounted on this

stem-piece by means of the usual notch but was not bellied; instead it

stood approximately vertical and a short strut was tenoned into both

the headboard and the inside face of the stem at a point about half the

height of the stem. Sometimes two struts were used, side by side, with

the outboard ends lashed at the sides of the stem. Thus the stem-pieces

and headboards were placed as a single unit, not independently as

in eastern canoes. The gunwale ends were lashed to the sides of the

stem-piece, between the strut and the stem-head, at a height determined

by the sheering of the main gunwale members. The outwales and caps

did not touch the stem-piece, ending with a nearly vertical upward

sweep, a few inches inboard. The ends of the outwales and caps were

always higher than the top of the stem-piece so that, when the canoe

was turned upside down, the bark cover over the stem-head was kept off

the ground and thus preserved from damage. The top of the stem-piece

was held rigid not only by the strut to the headboard but also by the

ends of the main gunwale members lashed to it a little higher up.

The headboard was in the form of a rounded ~V~ that was widest at

midheight, at the gunwales, which were let into its sides.

 

When the stem-head was rounded in the style of the fur-trade canoe, the

stem-piece except near the heel was split into very thin laminations

about ¹⁄₁₆ inch, or a little more, thick. The carefully selected cedar

of which these were made was treated with boiling water, then bent to

profile; the head was sharply bent over and down, inside the stem,

then sharply up again so the end stood at about right angles to the

face of the stem at midheight. The headboard was mounted as previously

described, except that the end of the stem-piece was inserted into a

hole in the headboard just above the strut. The laminations of the

stem-piece were wrapped in the normal manner and the lashing was often

brought around the strut as well, up against the outboard face of the

headboard. The whole structure was thus made rigid and very strong. As

in the other form, the main gunwale members did not follow the sheer

near the ends of canoe but were secured at a point lower down on the

sides of the stem-piece. In the round-head form, however, the outwale

and cap ends were fastened on the after face of the stem-head where the

laminations were curved downward as illustrated in the drawing (p. 116).

 

The headboards for both models were thicker than those in the eastern

canoes; this aided in holding the stem line in form. Tension on the

bark cover was obtained by making the cover ~V~-formed toward the

ends and then spreading the sides of the ~V~ with the headboard, thus

bringing pressure on the strakes of the sheathing and forcing the sides

outward in a slight curve.

 

The stem-pieces of the _wabinaki chiman_ were either cut out of a

thin board or laminated. In the straight-stem form, only the forefoot

part was laminated, and no headboard was used. Ordinarily, however,

the rigid headboard with a single strut was used. The head of the

stem-piece was carried through the rail caps and showed above them;

the ends of the caps and main gunwales were notched to permit this, but

neither these nor the cap extended outboard of the face of the stem.

 

[Illustration: Figure 112

 

ALGONKIN "WABINAKI CHIMAN."]

 

The bark cover was lashed to the gunwales with group lashings in which

the thong was carried from group to group by a long stitch outside the

cover, under the outwale. The turns in each group were passed through

five or six holes in the cover and reinforcing piece, two turns of the

thong going through each hole. The connecting stitch between groups,

which were usually about 1½ inches apart, usually passed from the last

hole in a group to the second hole in the next. Some builders laid a

wooden measuring stick along the gunwales to space the lashings; this

was perhaps the practice of many tribal groups.

 

The lashing of the ends of the cover was passed through the stem

pieces; when the latter were not laminated, holes through the soft,

thin cedar were made by a sharp awl and an in-and-out or harness stitch

was quite commonly used. On laminated stem pieces the form of lashing

varied; in the _wabinaki chiman_ it was commonly some combination of

spiral and crossed turns; in the old form of high-ended canoe multiple

turns through a single hole (usually at the top of the stem-head)

were also used in combination with closely spaced long-and-short

turns in triangular groups near the top of the stem profile. Below,

in the forefoot, spiral or crossed stitches were used. The ends of

the outwales were lashed together with a close wrapping of turns in

contact where they turned upward sharply, and the caps were secured

there by two or more group lashings. The head of the headboard was

lashed to each gunwale by passing the thong through holes each side

of the headboard; these lashings were in a long group and were passed

around gunwale and outwale before the caps were in place. With plank

stem-pieces the ends of the bark cover were slightly inboard of the

cutwater line, sometimes protected by a rabbet.

 

The side panels were sewn on with in-and-out stitches, back stitches,

or a double line of either. The gores were sewn spirally in the usual

manner or were stitched with a closely spaced lacing.

 

Some of the old Algonkin canoes examined had what appeared to be a

_wulegessis_ just outboard of the headboards. No marking was found on

these and they were too far aft to protect the ends of the gunwales.

The bark was carried across the gunwales, under the caps, and hung down

a little below the outwales. On top, it reached from the headboard out

to the lashings of the outwales, forming between the headboards and

the lashings a short deck that may have been intended to keep dirt

and water out of the ends of the canoe. Sometimes a modern _wabinaki

chiman_ has a _wulegessis_, copying the Eastern practice but without

markings.

 

[Illustration: Figure 113

 

ALGONKIN CANOE DECORATIONS by Tommy Sersin (or Serzia), Golden Lake,

Ont., showing four sides of stems of one canoe. Indian shown has the

eastern headdress rather than that of the Plains Indian. Moose, bear,

beaver, and goose are shown. (_Sketches by Adney._)]

 

The thwarts were of various designs; a common one had parallel sides in

plan. The old canoes had thwarts much like those of the Têtes de Boule.

The end lashings of these were usually passed through three holes in

the thwart ends, but some had only two holes.

 

Sheathing was laid somewhat as in the Têtes-de-Boule canoe, with

overlapping edges and butts. The end sheathing was short and was laid

first; the centerline strake was parallel-sided to a point near the

sharp end of the canoe. The strakes on each side of it were tapered

and were laid with their wide ends toward the middle of the canoe and

with the sides and narrow end lapped. In the middle of the canoe the

strakes were parallel-sided and their butts were on top of those of

the strakes in the end of the canoe. The sheathing was carried up to

within about three inches of the gunwales. The edges were not thinned

or feathered as much as were those in the Têtes de Boule canoe.

 

Ribs were of cedar from 2 to 3 inches wide, closely spaced and, as

usual, without taper until near the ends, which were formed with a

narrow chisel edge as in the Têtes-de-Boule canoe. The ribs were first

roughly bent, using the building frame as a general guide for length,

in order to obtain a somewhat dish-shaped cross section; by this

means the width of the bottom could be established to the builder's

satisfaction.

 

The foregoing description of building methods and construction is

based largely upon what is known of the old canoes. In later times the

Algonkin copied the eastern canoes and their procedure altered. Not

only did they copy extensively the appearance of the St. Francis and

Malecite canoes, but they built some canoes much like those of the

Têtes de Boule and Ojibway. As a result, it has become difficult to

determine what their tribal practices were.

 

Their paddles were of the same design as those of the Têtes de Boule,

round-pointed and with the blade parallel-sided for most of its length.

In portaging, the Algonkin, like many forest Indians, placed a pair

of paddles a foot or so apart fore-and-aft over the middle thwart and

those on each side of it. These were lashed in place with the ends of

a band of hide or the inner bark of a tree like the basswood or elm.

This band had been first passed around the ends of the middle thwart,